Next season is still a long way off if one looks at the calendar, but for coach Mike Cavey and the Apalachee High School baseball team, thoughts have already turned toward 2013.

For it’s that season, Cavey hopes, his team will be able to take the step into the postseason. With numerous players returning, including several freshmen who played key roles this spring, Cavey likes his team’s potential.

“Our overall goal is to always make the playoffs,” Cavey said Monday night. “That didn’t happen for us this year. We were hot and cold. We were hot early but we went back and forth some once the region got here. We did compete in most games.”

Still, the Wildcats established a program record for number of wins in a season and also finished 2012 with a winning record.

“Those things show what we were capable of doing,” Cavey said. “We are going to pay more attention to the mental aspect of the game. That part of our play has to improve. We need to be alert and know the situations we are in. Once we do that, we will be a little better.”

With as many as five freshmen in the lineup at times this spring, a solid nucleus is set to return for 2013.

“It was good to see our younger players step in and hold their own and compete,” Cavey said.

AHS will field a summer league team and has already lined up a trip to Hoover, Ala. for a showcase tournament. The summer-league Wildcats will also travel to Columbus.

Not only does a new region await AHS in 2013, the format for deciding who qualifies for the postseason will be different. Teams in Region 8-AAAAA will play a straight region schedule with the top four teams advancing to state. Schools will not play crossover games like Region 8-AAAA did this spring.

“It’s going to be tough with Gainesville coming in and teams like Loganville, Winder-Barrow, Heritage and Flowery Branch still there,” Cavey said.

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